all about Molly

Here is Molly's birthday interview:

Favorite color: orange and green

Favorite movie: Harry Potter

Favorite breakfast: cheesy bagels from Costco

Favorite dinner: mashed potatoes

Best friend: Lydia (Fredericks) (we haven't had Lydia over for a long time, she used to be in our ward but got put in the other ward when we split.  I would say her best friends are Sloane Ellingford, Rylie Ball, Roxy Tobler, Pallas Anderson-those are the 4 she asks to have over most frequently)

Favorite TV show: The Kicks (soccer show on Netflix-her love for Studio C far outweighs her like for any traditional show)

Favorite scripture story: Jonah and the whale

Favorite book: Harry Potter

Favorite game: Potter Quest

Favorite story: Odysseus and the Cyclops

Other kids think that I am: funny

What do you like about your Mom? a lot of things...she does weird dances a lot and it makes me laugh

What do you like about your Dad? he does weird voices

What do you like about Stockton? he is competitive (she definitely does not always appreciate this!)

What do you like about Brynn? she gives lots of hugs

What do you like about Ivy? she makes me laugh all the time just because she's cute

What do you like about yourself? that I can be funny (I do have my moments). I can also be artistic.

When I grow up I want to be: soccer player, architect, or photographer

I like learning about: mythology from countries

I want to go to: the moon

If I had one wish it would be: to get a book published and win a Newberry award.

Favorite thing to do: play soccer and art and take pictures

Favorite song: Eye of the Tiger

Molly has this creative side to her and I don't know where it came from.  I do not feel like I am creative.  Justin is creative in his woodworking-maybe it comes from him?  She came up with the Potter Quest game but on top of that, she is always writing stories and short stories and enjoys drawing the characters that go to the stories.  I always love to see what she comes up with next...she wrote a short turkey story, more like a script with parts, for school that had Justin and I in stitches it was so funny.

Molly has the best sense of humor.  She is quick with her comebacks and very witty.

Molly's love of reading has waned a little.  She has a hard time getting through a regular chapter book these days, for whatever reason.  She is hooked on those comic-book style books, which I can't stand, but whatever.  At least she's still reading.  I did read Princess Academy with her at night and she wants to read the rest of the series with me when it's her turn to be read to at night again.  I'm not saying she never reads anymore...she still reads a lot but she doesn't give a lot of books a chance beyond the second or third page and will just say that it didn't hold her interest.  One thing that I can guarantee from her, though, is that she will listen to audiobooks.  So I get a lot of those from the library or to put on her kindle.  Her CD player recently broke so she used her own money to get a new one and she listens to books on CD in her room a lot.

Molly is our social butterfly.  She loves being with her friends, going to friends' houses, having friends over.  She has been able to make some really great friends up here and I am happy about that.

Molly loves to sleep with her stuffed snake and stuffed tiger.  And she loves when Cash snuggles her to sleep, or until we make him go to bed in the laundry room.  She claims that she "just cannot go to sleep without them."

We have been leaving Molly more and more to baby-sit.  We have never left her for long periods of time and we have never left Heber but she is feeling fairly confident to baby-sit, at least here at home.  It is a new feeling for us-I never thought this day would come.  I'm excited because I know over the next couple of years, Justin and I will have more freedom than we've ever had since Molly joined our family.

Molly loves nature and appreciates a beautiful sunset or mountain view.  She is always taking Justin's phone or my camera to take nature pictures.  She wants a camera for Christmas and she'd love for me to find a photography class that she could take.

Molly is kind.  She is sensitive to other people's feelings and is good at making sure everyone is included.  When someone is rude, she just doesn't get it because it's not something that she would ever think to do.

Molly loves Studio C and watches it every chance she gets. 

Molly is very appreciative.  She never forgets to say thank you for a meal or a ride somewhere. 

I love cooking for Molly because there are very few things that she won't eat.  The only two things that I have found that she doesn't like are oatmeal and homemade mac and cheese.  She gets excited over things like clam chowder and soups, curries, and pretty much anything.  She is not afraid to try new things.  She loved the brussel sprouts at Thanksgiving, something she's never had before.  I made some Thai noodle bowls recently and figured the kids could just have the noodles with butter and cheese but she dumped her noodles back in the pot and made herself a large helping of salad and ate the whole thing.

Molly continues to love soccer.  It is stretching her and forcing her to go outside of her comfort zone.  She had a good fall season but she is having to learn how to be aggressive.  She can be very timid on the field and as soon as she gets the ball, she is looking to pass it off-not all the time but often.  Her ball control is amazing, advanced for her age even, but she just needs the confidence and aggression to go with it.  I have told her many times that aggression is a skill that will get better with practice.  She is a very smart player so if she can just combine that with her natural ball-handling skills, some confidence, and some aggression she will truly be a force to be reckoned with.  I am mostly having fun watching her but it does come with some stress-it is not easy as a parent to watch your kid potentially face disappointment.

No kid is perfect, although Molly comes close.  Molly can be easily offended, she worries a lot about things that are out of her control, she can be overly dramatic at times, can get pouty, is scatterbrained and forgets things all the time, has a very cluttered room, and she has a tendency to spend too much time on her computer (watching Studio C) but those are all things we are working on and the positive far outweighs any of those sorts of things.

Molly is a one-of-a-kind daughter, sister, cousin, granddaughter, niece, and friend.  Anyone who knows her should be considered lucky which means that I am the very luckiest because I get to be her mom!  She is growing into a beautiful girl on the outside but her beauty on the inside is her greatest quality.  She has great things ahead of her and I'm happy that I get to be her biggest cheerleader!